Deconstructing Cyberia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
[Update (August 15, 2016): It has been recently reported in the national press that Times Square in New York, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Disneyland Park in France are among tourist attractions where mobile phones are most likely to be hacked. Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Ocean Park in Hong Kong and Las Vegas's strip are the next three mostly likely places, according to research by mobile threat defence company Skycure. Among the best suggestion to prevent hacking is always to use passwords, never share them, change them from time to time, and never program them into a mobile phone. It is also available never to keep any particularly sensitive personal data on a mobile phone for long. I imagine much the same applies to laptops and tablets.]
Regular readers will know that I try to record important if necessarily selective events in my poems and subsequent collections.
Yesterday, I listened to news breaking all afternoon about Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers [not only the News of the World] allegedly resorting to the most horrific tactics in the name of investigative journalism. Blagging, hacking into the phones of a murdered teenager and armed forces personnel killed on active duty...we are being told that these are allegedly among the usual suspects targeting just about anyone in the public eye hell bent on obtaining any information that might pass for ‘news’ considered to be ‘in the public interest.’ This is not (surely?) what investigative journalism is all about.
I have never cared for people like Rupert Murdoch. Even so, like many a business magnate through the centuries, he’s probably not the only Chief who may well have paid his Indians (and other Chiefs) to do any dirty work for him.
Mind you, we should never forget that questionable practices are in a minority even in journalism. Moreover, while we may not agree with whatever News any better practices may come up with, neither should we be quick to write anything or anyone off as either offensive or immoral, especially after consenting to show an interest either by pressing a button or turning a page. Even so, we cannot help but wonder just who may be listening in to our calls and/or monitoring our emails these days.
Perhaps the title of the poem should be Reconstructing Cyberia (for whatever purpose whomsoever may have in mind...?!) Whatever, one suspects it is happening on a very underestimated scale around the world, and this is the tip of a huge iceberg.
At school, 50+ years ago, we had a great English teacher, 'Jock' Rankin, who once spent several lessons illustrating and leading class discussions on how and why we should not accept any one version of what we read in newspapers or hear on the radio or see on television as necessarily objective, but to take account of various versions and form our own opinions. I not only count this amongst the most valuable advice I’ve ever been given, but also the most worthwhile lesson (if not the only one) that I took from my schooldays and have put into practice ever since.
This poem is a villanelle and will appear in my next major collection, Tracking the Torchbearer, next spring.
DECONSTRUCTING CYBERIA
Who (now) has the faintest idea
what’s right, wrong, true, false, hearsay,
regarding goings-on in the media?
Is no one safe from the blagger,
and whose phone was hacked into today?
Who (now) has the faintest idea?
Seedy types are exploiting Cyberia,
its millions of everyday tourists led astray
regarding goings-on in the media
Can intrusion into any private arena
be justified by pushing it Joe Public's way?
Who (now) has the faintest idea?
If one malpractice leads to another,
what's the right take on what is or isn't okay
regarding goings-on in the media?
Though no person or enterprise bigger
than a Free Press left to have an honest say,
who (now) has the faintest idea
regarding goings-on in the media?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
[Update (August 15, 2016): It has been recently reported in the national press that Times Square in New York, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Disneyland Park in France are among tourist attractions where mobile phones are most likely to be hacked. Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Ocean Park in Hong Kong and Las Vegas's strip are the next three mostly likely places, according to research by mobile threat defence company Skycure. Among the best suggestion to prevent hacking is always to use passwords, never share them, change them from time to time, and never program them into a mobile phone. It is also available never to keep any particularly sensitive personal data on a mobile phone for long. I imagine much the same applies to laptops and tablets.]
Regular readers will know that I try to record important if necessarily selective events in my poems and subsequent collections.
Yesterday, I listened to news breaking all afternoon about Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers [not only the News of the World] allegedly resorting to the most horrific tactics in the name of investigative journalism. Blagging, hacking into the phones of a murdered teenager and armed forces personnel killed on active duty...we are being told that these are allegedly among the usual suspects targeting just about anyone in the public eye hell bent on obtaining any information that might pass for ‘news’ considered to be ‘in the public interest.’ This is not (surely?) what investigative journalism is all about.
I have never cared for people like Rupert Murdoch. Even so, like many a business magnate through the centuries, he’s probably not the only Chief who may well have paid his Indians (and other Chiefs) to do any dirty work for him.
Mind you, we should never forget that questionable practices are in a minority even in journalism. Moreover, while we may not agree with whatever News any better practices may come up with, neither should we be quick to write anything or anyone off as either offensive or immoral, especially after consenting to show an interest either by pressing a button or turning a page. Even so, we cannot help but wonder just who may be listening in to our calls and/or monitoring our emails these days.
Perhaps the title of the poem should be Reconstructing Cyberia (for whatever purpose whomsoever may have in mind...?!) Whatever, one suspects it is happening on a very underestimated scale around the world, and this is the tip of a huge iceberg.
At school, 50+ years ago, we had a great English teacher, 'Jock' Rankin, who once spent several lessons illustrating and leading class discussions on how and why we should not accept any one version of what we read in newspapers or hear on the radio or see on television as necessarily objective, but to take account of various versions and form our own opinions. I not only count this amongst the most valuable advice I’ve ever been given, but also the most worthwhile lesson (if not the only one) that I took from my schooldays and have put into practice ever since.
This poem is a villanelle and will appear in my next major collection, Tracking the Torchbearer, next spring.
DECONSTRUCTING CYBERIA
Who (now) has the faintest idea
what’s right, wrong, true, false, hearsay,
regarding goings-on in the media?
Is no one safe from the blagger,
and whose phone was hacked into today?
Who (now) has the faintest idea?
Seedy types are exploiting Cyberia,
its millions of everyday tourists led astray
regarding goings-on in the media
Can intrusion into any private arena
be justified by pushing it Joe Public's way?
Who (now) has the faintest idea?
If one malpractice leads to another,
what's the right take on what is or isn't okay
regarding goings-on in the media?
Though no person or enterprise bigger
than a Free Press left to have an honest say,
who (now) has the faintest idea
regarding goings-on in the media?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
Labels: blagging, cell, hacking, human, intrusion, invasion, mobile, morality, Murdoch, News International (organisation), phones, poetry, press, privacy, rights, scandal, society, tactics, United Kingdom
posted by R. N. Taber | 08:18
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